Catching Tennis Post-US Open

As far as most people are concerned, tennis ends with the US Open and begins with the Australian Open’s warm-up tournaments in January. That leaves players just two–three months of offseason to recover, which is bad for athletes but great for fans that get to enjoy the sport pretty much year-round.

The WTA recently shortened their season by a month, ending with the WTA Finals at the end of October, in addition to the new WTA Elite Trophy, which began last year as a larger version of the WTA Tournament of Champions. Other post-US Open tournaments include the China Open, Tianjin Open, Hong Kong Open, Linz Open (Austria), Kremlin Cup and Luxembourg Open. Some of these tournaments have stars looking to win some extra prize money before the season ends and the atmosphere is much more relaxed than a grand slam.

The Men’s Tour is a little more grueling with two more months of tournaments before the ATP Finals in November. Both men and women also compete in an international team tournament, respectively called the Davis Cup and the Federation Cup. The tournaments are the unofficial close to the tennis season, followed closely in January by the Hopman, which is an international team tournament for doubles and the unofficial beginning of the tennis season.